Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
This is the 318th installment of the ‘Wrestling with Sin‘ series. A group of stories that delves into the darker, underbelly of pro wrestling. Many of the stories involve such subjects as sex, drugs, greed and in some cases even murder! As with every single story in the Sin series, I do not condone or condemn the alleged participants. We simply retell their stories by researching interviews, newspapers, magazines and various other sources of media.
The Deville Made Him Do It
WWE star Sonya Deville was the target of a kidnapping plot by a 24 year old obsessed fan named Phillip Thomas II. Thomas planned the kidnapping for approximately eight months before actually attempting it. For over a year, Thomas sent Deville hundreds of private messages on social media expressing his obsessed love and devotion to the wrestler. One of the messages had Phillip Thomas threatening to kill someone. His message read, “Look outside, baby, by your pool. I’m here. I’m gonna kill that little bitch you have inside with you.”
Thomas drove seven hours from his home in South Carolina to Deville’s residence in Florida. He then sat outside the wrestler’s home for several hours before attempting entry. Thomas was armed with a knife, plastic zip ties, duct tape and mace. Deville’s home alarm was set off once Thomas tried to enter her home through a sliding glass door. When the alarm was triggered, it alerted Deville who was on the premises.
Sonya who was with her friend and fellow WWE star Mandy Rose, spotted Thomas and confronted him by screaming at him. Thomas then walked towards the two women holding his knife. That is when Deville realized that he wasn’t a burglar, but someone who wanted to physically hurt her. Both Sonya and Mandy ran away and called 911. Phillip Thomas was arrested and charged with felonies armed kidnapping, armed burglary and aggravated stalking…. as well as one charge of criminal mischief. After his arrest, Sonya Deville made the decision to take a break from wrestling and as of this writing….still has not returned. No word if or when she will ever return to a WWE ring again.
Dust The Floor With Him
In December of 1978, ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes was at a private supper club in Tampa, Florida. Dusty allegedly became intoxicated and allegedly assaulted an individual in front of his wife. The victim claimed that the attack was completely unprovoked. He also claimed that Dusty broke his nose and caused other facial injuries.
In April of 1979, the alleged victim and his wife sued Rhodes for $5,000 in compensatory damages and an additional $25,000 in punitive damages. When the case went to civil court….neither Rhodes or his attorney showed up. Therefore, the victim was awarded money in his case. No word if Dusty ever paid the alleged victim for his damages. This was the second time in a little over two years where Dusty Rhodes was sued for damages from an assault. The first was documented in an earlier post.
Not O-Kay
Chris Kay got his start in wrestling by training in WWE’s former developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling when he was just 17 years old. He trained to be both a wrestler and a referee…but due to his small stature…found more success as a referee. In 2004, when senior WWE official Earl Hebner went down with a shoulder injury, Kay was called up to the main roster to fill in.
Chris Kay started officiating matches on Raw, but was moved to Smackdown where he remained for over three years. In 2007, Kay was released by WWE due to “multiple drug violations.” Kay was on a 60 day suspension from the company when he failed yet another drug test and was fired. No details were given on what drugs Kay may have taken that led to his release from the company.
Bounty: The Quicker Fixer Meltzer
Pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer recalled his personal relationship with the late Roddy Piper. He remembered it being a hot and cold/ love and hate type of thing. During a more volatile point in their relationship, Piper was angry at Meltzer for allegedly reporting information about his family. Meltzer insisted that the news he reported was accurate, because it was Piper himself who gave it to him.
In any case, Roddy Piper looked to send a message to Meltzer by going after Meltzer’s journalistic partner and occasional wrestler Bryan Alvarez. According to Alvarez, during an independent wrestling show, Piper took Alvarez into a room, locked the door, shut off all the lights and threatened to burn down his and Dave’s homes. Awhile later, after the show ended, Piper shook Bryan’s hand and said it was nice to finally meet him. Alvarez said Piper’s behavior that night was very erratic.
Meltzer then recalled how Alvarez was booked on an indie show in Portland, Oregon and was scheduled to face John Nord. The local promoter found out that Piper asked Nord to rough up Alvarez to send a message to Meltzer not to mess with him or his family. Nord stood over a foot taller than Alvarez and outweighed Alvarez by close to 200 pounds. The promoter tipped off Meltzer and canceled Nord’s booking.